Black Metal
by Xenos The Dark
Summary: After a bad encounter with a dangerous assassin, Team RWBY finds themselves as his next targets. Determined to find out the identity of this criminal, Ruby must not only investigate this past that has returned to haunt her, but also must bear the burden of protecting her teammates. Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its characters. All rights go to Roosterteeth.
1. The Black Crystal: Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its characters. All rights go to Roosterteeth.**

**A/N: Hello everyone. I am excited to say that this is my very first fanfic. I had the idea in my head for a while now, but I am happy to finally post it. This is actually part one of my first chapter so hopefully expect the second part tomorrow. Anyways I do appreciate constructive criticism, and if you have any ideas for the story, I am willing to look into them.**

* * *

_Life is an interesting phenomenon. It affects everyone in differently. While some choose to embrace it and live it to the fullest, others reject and take it away. Some choose to commit to the service of others by assisting them in any way, but there are still those who suffer in silence, who commit their time to destroying life. The world is not divided into good and evil, there are just different stories. They can be the most feared person in the world or the most respected, but even they have a story, a reason, for their ideals._

The night air above the city of Vale was cold. The lights of buildings that flooded the street turned dark as the bustling shops closed for the day. Dust and smoke blew across the roads as the frigid air swept through the city. The city once said to be the most "beautiful and lively city in all of Vytal" has become a depressed, scarred land. And it was all because of _'him'_, the very monster who stalked through the night, slaying the innocent for an unknown purpose. But still, Vale continued to prosper and its people remained strong for the past six months.

They prayed for something, something that could save them from this ill fate. Those prayers may have been answered.

At noon, reports of a large, black dust crystal flooded the Vale Network. Dust has many capabilities. Claimed to be '_nature's wrath'_, human beings manipulated its properties and used them to their own advantage. This black crystal was thought to merely be a legend. Stories spoke of black dust crystals whose properties equaled to aura itself. The discovery of was enough to raise the spirits of the people, who hoped to heal the wounded and put an end to the menace that terrorized them.

The officials knew that the crystal needed to be guarded and studied. And so throughout the dark streets, light quickly flooded through as the roar of engines broke the quiet atmosphere. A convoy of ten or more truck, all heavily armed, raced through the streets in hope of reaching their destination: the Vale Science Facility, located on the outskirts of the towering buildings.

Finally after several minutes, the trucks filed through the gate of the large infrastructure. The convoy proceeded around the back of the facility near the storage depot. A scientist stood there waiting for the convoy to halt. He was a burly man, tall and distinguishable by his bald head, short black and gray beard and oval glasses. One by one armed men filed out of the truck, readying weapons for any incoming danger. In the transport vehicle, a large crate was pulled out by two other men. The scientist took notice of the number on the crate: 718. He would have to remember that number for later when the other scientists fetch its containments. He then noticed more movement in the back of the truck and was surprised at what came out.

Exiting the vehicle were four girls, teens by the look of it. Taking notice of each one, he realized that each one was carrying a weapon or device of some sort. A grin formed on his face as he realized that they must be the huntresses he requested for assistance in guarding the cargo. What he did not expect was the how young they were. Still, huntresses and hunters outmatched simple officers any day.

"Ah, welcome ladies to the Vale Science Facility." the scientist said with a grin, "I am Professor Jonas, the head scientist of this facility. You must be the huntresses from Beacon that I requested. Am I correct?" The four nodded in approval and Jonas continued, "Splendid. I have heard great things about you all from Professor Ozpin. But, enough said, if you would follow me please, I can fill you in on the situation." He may have been smart, but even he could not contradict the wisdom of Professor Ozpin.

As they entered the facility, he looked at the girls' shocked expressions. They were all staring blankly at the main lobby of the facility and were impressed with the bright, shining interior of the facility. Jonas smiled to himself at the reactions of the girls. They were clearly impressed with the facility. The group then proceeded to the main study room. The room itself was quite spacious for its large number of desks and computers, not to mention the vast number of scientists communicating and working on classified projects.

"So girls, once again I must thank you for your time in helping me tonight." Jonas said with happiness. "Now as you can see, we already have scientists working on the contents of the cargo you guarded. Today at noon, miners apparently discovered this mysterious black crystal in one of the nearby mines. They claimed that the crystal was the one of the black crystals in the old stories, so they sent a sample of it to us. Much to our astonishment, the energy from the sample matched its description in the stories. It was believe that these black dust crystals were able to give unusual strength to its user, as well as cure any illness and heal any wound. To have found such a thing is an accomplishment on its own."

One of the girls wearing a red cloak presented a question to another girl in an icy dress and white coat, "Have you heard any stories like this Weiss?" The girl named Weiss pondered for a moment before replying, "Yes, but, I never thought or considered the stories as true… at least until now."

The red cloaked girl then sent another question to Jonas. "Professor Jonas, if you don't mind me asking, when do you plan on continuing your studies on the crystal."

"An excellent question Miss-"he paused for a moment waiting for a reply. "Ruby, Ruby Rose" "Ah, yes, an excellent question Miss Rose. We are actually going to commence with our studies in a couple of hours. Right now we are preparing everything we might need to examine this excellent find."

* * *

Meanwhile, outside of the facility several men stood around the convoy. They kept their watch, frequently marching around the perimeter for any sign of contact. Everything so far seemed quiet, too quiet. One of the soldiers marched back towards the parked convoy. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but everything was just too quiet for his liking.

However, before he could finish his thought, he was lifted off his feet and thrown back against the earth. His vision was blurred; all he could make out through the closing fog was the spot where the convoy was parked. But there was no convoy. All he could see was colors of orange and yellow dancing in the spot where the trucks were. As he tried to get up, he felt pain in his chest and collapsed once more. He looked down and was horrified at what he saw. Lodged in his chest was a large shard of metal from one of the trucks that exploded.

Suddenly he began coughing horrendously; he could taste blood in his mouth. The coughing quickly got worse, staining his uniform with more of his own blood. White spots flickered in his blurred vision. All he could hear was the sound of an alarm and the shouts of his fellow men. Then, everything went white.

* * *

Chaos erupted in the facility. All of the scientists had ducked under the desks they were working at. Just a moment ago, a loud crash was heard and the building shook. In the corner of her eye she could see a faint orange glow protruding from one of the windows. She quickly ran over to the window and gasped at the sight. Over in the distance near the storage facility, a large column of smoke could be seen rising into the sky.

Professor Jonas frantically yelled into a comm piece he was wearing on his ear. "What's going on out there. What happened?!"

Static came out of the ear piece before one of the soldiers responded. "There was an explosion near the Storage Building. The convoy is gone. We have wounded!" Jonas cursed under his breath. '_How could he have gotten here already.' _He knew that they only had a short time to reach the crystal. "Girls, I need you to go to the storage facility and get the crystal. It's in crate 718 in Section 22. Please hurry."

"You got it Professor," Ruby replied, "Weiss, Blake, Yang, let's go quickly." "Right" the other three girls replied in unison. Jonas watched as the four girls sprinted toward the storage area. "May God help us all".

* * *

Four men with pistols were quickly patrolling the storage area. The flashlights on their weapons illuminated the darkened room. One of them kept complaining, "Great, an explosion followed by a power outage. Talk about eerie ". "Dude, Matt, shut up. You're creepin' me out" one angrily replied.

The head of the patrol stopped, searching the spaces between boxes. He could have sworn that he saw something moving. "What's up, why did we stop?" another one asked. His reply was faint, "I thought I saw something moving in the shadows. We need to spread out more John, you're with me. Matt, Phillip you two search back where we came."

Not wanting to hear Matt complain the two moved up ahead. "Come on Matt." Phillip said in annoyance. Matt, however stood where he was, grumbling under his breath. He was distracted enough to not notice the blade that had come out of the shadows behind him. What appeared to be in the shape of a sickle went around his neck. Before Matt could react the blade was swiftly pulled to the right, and his body fell to the ground.

Phillip continued ahead, failing to notice Matt's absence. When he turned around to make sure Matt was following him, all he could see was an empty pathway with no sign of him. "Matt," he called out worriedly. A loud sound of metal tools falling to the ground startled him. "I swear to God, Matt, if that's you. This isn't funny!"

Phillip slowly guided his flashlight along the wall, but the thing that made him stop was the black hooded figure wearing a metal mask that suddenly appeared in his line of sight. The light of the flashlight reflected off his mask and Phillip could see the blood red eyes glaring underneath. He barely had time to yell before the figure charged at him.

On the other side of the area, John and the leader could hear the scream. A look of worry appeared on their faces as they recognized the source of the screaming. Without hesitation, they immediately sprinted towards the source. It took only less than a minute for a wave of disgust to crash on them.

In the middle of the floor lied Phillip's unmoving body. His body was covered in red slash marks, topped off by a few stab wounds on the side of his neck and in his chest. Surrounding his body was a large pool of his own blood. The leader recoiled at the sight, while John backed away, nearly vomiting at the sight.

The leader, noticing the movements in the corner of his eye, unloaded his magazine on the top of several containers. The black figure quickly jumped off the crates and returned fire. The leader dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding the bullets from what appeared to be two silenced sub-machine guns. John was not as lucky and was gunned down as the figure landed.

The leader managed to shoot one of the weapons out of his hand, but the assailant sped toward him and grabbed him by the back of his collar. The leader attempted to shoot him, but he was hastily thrown against a steel container, causing him to drop his weapon. He attempted to get up, but a gloved hand quickly grabbed his throat and lifted him up.

As he slowly lost his breath, he stared into the black eye slits in his attacker's metal mask. He could clearly see the flaring red eyes staring through him. The feeling alone made him close his eyes again. "Where's the container?" the masked man demanded dully.

"I don't know what you're talking about" the leader quickly replied.

"You know very well what I'm talking about."

"Screw you!" The masked man's red eyes squinted in anger as he reached for his waist and pointed the silenced weapon to the leader's head. "You are not in any position to sound tough, so I would suggest that you choose your words carefully and tell me WHERE THE CONTAINER IS!"

There was no way he would survive, so he might as well go out making him angry. "Very well then, go to hell."

Before he knew it, the masked man pulled the trigger and threw the now lifeless body to the side. He was about to walk away, until he heard a grunt from the other one.

John was seeing spots. He could not think straight. All he remembered was that the leader open fired and that someone landed behind him. John decided to try and crawl away, but he felt a boot press into his wound, causing him to scream in pain.

The person holding him down rolled John over so that he could face him. "And what about you?"

John was confused at his statement, "What about me?" he timidly asked.

"You seem to be in a lot of pain." He was right. Johns back and right side were burning in agony. The man continued, "I could end the pain right now. I can relieve you of this stress, but only, if you tell me where the crystal is."

John could say no, but the pain was becoming unbearable. Perhaps he was telling the truth. "Section 22, Crate 718", he said weakly. The man got up and pulled out his weapon. "See, now that wasn't so hard was it. Well, a deal's a deal." Before John could question him, the man fired a round into John's head, quickly ending his pain.

The masked man flashed through the areas before arriving at Section 22. Scanning the crate numbers he caught crate 718 with his trained eyes sitting at the top of a large stack. The man pulled out his two sub-machine guns and pressed the convert button on both of them. In seconds, the guns transformed into two sharp sickles.

Crouching down, he pushed himself up into the air. The two sickles immediately penetrated the thin crates before he pulled himself up. Landing on top of the crates, he regained his composure and picked up 718, placing it down next to him.

He flipped the sickles around and lodged them between the crate and the cover. With little effort, the sickles acted as a pry bar and broke off the top of the crate. Inside was a glass container with a glowing black crystal. The masked man smashed the top of the container and picked up the crystal.

"Finally" He muttered to himself before storing it under his black cloak. Now with his job done he could finally leave. This thought was caught short however. As he began walking across the top of the crates, a red cloaked figure appeared in front of him holding a giant scythe. He glared at the figure until he heard a female voice come from it. "Now where do you think you're going."


	2. The Black Crystal: Part 2

**A few minutes ago…**

"Girls, I need you to go to the storage facility and get the crystal. It's in crate 718 in Section 22. Please hurry."

"You got Professor; Weiss, Blake, Yang, let's go"

"Right" The four girls sprinted through the door, though Ruby swore she heard Professor Jonas mumble something. They went own the staircase that entered into the main lobby before sprinting out the building and across the perimeter.

This haste was stopped by the pile of fire and bodies at the spot the convoy was in. Their eyes widened at the sight before them. _He couldn't have done this, could he?_ Ruby thought to herself. The black haired girl, Blake, kneeled down next to a body. Ruby glanced down at Blake and noticed the large shard of metal in his chest. _This is horrible._

All of them jumped when they heard a loud scream nearby. It sounded like it came from the storage area. They were too late.

Ruby's voice broke the shock, "Girls, listen, we need to get to that facility quickly. Weiss, you head to the roof and keep an eye out for anything else."

"Right" Weiss replied.

"Blake, head around the side and watch the alley ways make sure no one is hiding."

"Understood"

"Yang, guard the entrance. No one gets in or out."

"You got it sis."

"Remember, the soldiers gave us communication devices. Use them only in an emergency. Now, let's move." With their orders in mind, the girls took their positions. Weiss unsheathed Myrtenaster and created an air step to propel herself up. Blake ran towards the alley way and removed Gambol Shroud. Ember Celica covered Yang's wrist before she loaded the weapon and kept her guard. Ruby's own weapon, Crescent Rose, transformed into its giant scythe form. She loaded the sniper rifle scythe and proceeded onward into the storage area.

The entrance alone crept her out. She felt chills run down her body as she looked through the dark room. It was lucky enough for her that her eyes were at least somewhat adjusted to the dark, so she could easily make out the large stack of crates and steel containers littering the area. All perfect hiding spots for an ambush. Readying her weapon she jumped on the crates and sprinted across the mountain of boxes.

_Relax Ruby. Remember the crate. Section 22, crate 718. 718. 718. _She immediately stopped when she saw the black cloaked figure break open the crate she needed. What was inside the crate nearly made her gasp. The figure held up the glowing black crystal to the ceiling. From the light, Ruby could see the metal mask reflect the bright aura of the crystal. '_No. It was him. How did he get here?'_

She immediately snapped back to reality when she saw him put the crystal under his cloak. He can't get away, not again. Without hesitation, Ruby jumped in front of the figure. She could see his red eyes glaring at her. "Now where do you think you're going" she asked confidently.

The man chuckled at this pride. "Now what's an adorable girl like you doing here? Aren't you a little young to be playing in a scientific facility?"

"I don't know about you, but just because you're ugly doesn't mean you have to wear that ridiculous mask." Ruby quickly retorted.

"Well, I hate to break it to you kid, but you're not exactly pleasant to look at either."

"Kind of contradicting yourself after you just called me adorable."

The man was impressed; this little girl knew how to argue, "Touché. But as much as I would like to continue this conversation, I have places to be. So, if you would kindly move out of the way, we can forget this ever happened, and you won't have to worry about any trouble." The man took a step forward, but Ruby blocked his path.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." She casually replied

The man sighed, "I warned you, kid. I warned you." With great speed, the sickles in his hands transformed back into their gun forms. He raised the weapon and fire at the stream of red rose petals left behind by the fleeing girl. Ruby ducked behind the crate, as wooden chips flew past her head.

She quickly reached for her ear piece, "I found the target, but I'm pinned down. It's _him._ He has the crysta-". Her sentence was cut off as a bullet graze part of the ear piece. The only reply that came out of the device was a shrill wave of static. _Better this than my head_ she thought as she looked at the broken device.

Everything was quiet once more. Ruby peaked over the broken edge of the crate and noticed the man reloading his weapons. She hastily took this opportunity to switch her weapon to its rifle form. Diving out of cover, she fired several shots at the man. The assassin jumped and flipped to the right, narrowly avoiding the shots and the broken debris that took the impact.

He leaped off the crates, changing his weapons back into sickles, before rolling on the ground. Ruby converted her weapon once more into its scythe form. The two rushed toward each other, and their weapons collided. The two pushed against each other, glaring at the respective opponent. The man pulled the scythe down before swinging around. The circular blade nearly got her throat, but her agility allowed for her to dodge and bring the scythe down. He rolled out of the way and tried to impale her side. Ruby fired a round from her weapon, giving her the momentum to swing around and parry the attack. She swung once more aiming for his legs. However, he simply jumped over the attack, spinning his weapons around in the process.

Ruby recoiled, rendering her unable to block the kick that sent her across the floor. She stood up, feeling a burning spot on her cheek. She looked down at her hand, staring at the blood stain on her palm. The man laughed once more, prompting her to look at him.

"I warned you, didn't I?" he mocked, "You have no idea about who you picked a fight against."

Ruby did not respond. Rather, she smiled at his mocking tone. She could see the confusion in his eyes. He switched his weapons back to their gun form and aimed them at the red cloaked girl. Suddenly, everything became bright. Ruby squinted through the area and realized that the lights were on. Looking back at the attacker, she could clearly see his shadowy form stick out in the bright room.

If the lights turning on weren't a big enough surprise for him, then the explosion that blew apart several crates did. Looking over to the source, he saw Yang emerge from where several crates used to stand; only they were now reduced to burning planks of wood on the ground. He heard another loud crash above him and looked up to see Weiss diving toward him with her rapier pointed at his head. The man rolled back, but upon regaining his composure, he realized immediately that he was surrounded. The sound of a shattering window caused him to look away from the three. He could clearly see Blake jump through the window and run across the towers of standing cargo. She leaped off the crates and landed gracefully next to her teammates.

_Four on one, eh? _He thought to himself mischievously. A red glow caught his attention. He looked at the source; it was Ruby. What really caught his attention was the gash on her cheek. The wound immediately disappeared, and Ruby wiped the blood away that was still in the spot where the injury was. _Four young, armed, highly trained girls who can heal their wounds with their own energy._

He mentally slapped himself; he should have realized who they were. "Huntresses" he said calmly to himself, "It seems things just got interesting."

The four barely had time to duck down, feeling the bullets barely miss them. The man, who had spun around while firing his weapons, ran up one the side of a nearby container. Ruby fired a shot at him, but he jumped to the other side of the containers, landing instead directly under the hole Weiss made in the ceiling. The girls launched themselves towards the man, reaching him just after he jumped through the hole. They followed him through the hole, and watched as he sprinted across the rooftop.

The girls loaded their weapons and fired all their shots at the running figure. He continued to avoid the ammunition and debris from the incoming fire, occasionally looking back to fire his own weapons, forcing them to dive out of the line of fire.

Ruby could not let him reach the end' "Weiss, stop him."

"On it." Weiss jumped into the air and forged a white glyph under her feet. She propelled herself off of the glyph forming more as she lost altitude. Landing several feet in front of him, Weiss activated one of the dust cartridges in her weapon and created a wall of ice to block his path. The man skidded to a halt, merely staring at the white haired girl that stood in his way. He looked over his shoulder and stared blankly at the other three running towards him.

_So it's gonna be like this._ His weapons once more transformed into their sickle forms. He readied his weapons and charged at the girl in front of him. She barely had time to parry the attack, but before she could return the strike, she had to block another slash aimed at her head. Whoever this person was, he was fast. He stopped any chance of her attacking back.

Blake jumped into the fight, swinging her katana and cleaver at the man, but his speed surprised her as he spun around swiftly, blocking any attack the two sent at him. Weiss locked her weapon with his, giving Blake an opening for a clean kill. The man noticed this and elbowed Weiss in the face. He quickly turned around and blocked both of Blake's weapons with his. Since he managed to hook her weapons, he used his own strength to pull himself over her. Blake could not react as he kicked her in the stomach as she turned around. The force pushed the man toward Yang, while Blake stumbled into Weiss, knocking both of them down.

Yang attempted to slam her arm into his head, but he quickly hooked both of her guantlets with his sickles. He used his weapons to pull her to the right, giving him enough time to quickly spin around and sweep her off her feet. Yang fired a shot at him, but he pulled his head bak and grabbed Yang by her jacket. He put her over his head and immediately slammed her into the ground, knocking the wind out of her.

Readying his weapon, he brought the sickle down onto the fallen opponent, only to meet resistance from a large scythe. He looked up into the Ruby's eyes. There was a hint of anger in them that he did not fully understand. Returning the glare, he swung his other sickle at Ruby. She pulled the scythe away, dragging the man with it in the process. He unhooked the blade and spun around Ruby before performing a horizontal slash with both of his weapons. Ruby blocked the attack and swung her own weapon at him, using the recoil from the shots to increase the speed of her attacks.

Their attacks constantly met, creating sparks of white with every clash of metal. He needed to end this fight. He then noticed the girl's right side was always unprotected. He swung his sickle down, finally ready to finish this pointless battle. Ruby was barely able to notice this. She swung Crescent Rose around and blocked the strike, then proceeding to swing her weapon over her head and hit the man in his mask. The force nearly knocked him off the roof.

He sighed as he stopped with his head looking down at the ground. But through his relief, he could not react fast enough to catch the black crystal that slid out of his cloak and onto the hard surface below.

"NO!" Time slowed down as he watched the crystal reach the ground and shatter into thousands of pieces. The bright glow that illuminated the crystal died; all that was left was broken pieces of rock.

The other three girls recovered from their fight and joined their teammate who was staring blankly at the man at the edge. She readied her weapon as he rose. She could hear the anger in his voice as he spoke.

"You, do you have ANY IDEA ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST DID!" The sudden rise in his voice startled all four of them. They could see his red glowing eyes practically flare up in anger. "YOU JUST DESTROYED ONE OF THE RAREST AND MOST VALUABLE ITEMS IN ALL OF VYTAL! ALL OF THE WORK I PUT INTO FINDING THAT…GONE, WORTHLESS!"

The yelling stopped. He lowered his voice, but the words still had the same sting. "You will pay for this. You will suffer as I have suffered. I swear, by the gods, that I will hunt you down and make you pay for this."

Ruby was confused. _Why is he overreacting this much?_

The man continued, "So, you can run, you can hide, you can even fight back, but even so, I will get my revenge." He reached under his cloak and pulled out several white marbles. "You, and your friends, will die!" He threw the marbles on the ground and a large plume of smoke overtook the area. The four of them coughed through the smoke until it finally cleared. No one was there; it was just the four of them on the roof.

They stood there, silent for a short period of time. Ruby finally broke the silence. "Come on," she said sadly, "let's report this and go home."

* * *

It took less than thirty minutes for one of the Beacon airships to land outside the facility. All four of the girls just wanted to go home and relax. Once they boarded the ship, they felt it rise above the ground. Weiss and Blake fell asleep on one for the nearby couches. Ruby sat on the other side, while Yang went to talk to the pilot briefly. Ruby stared idly out the window. The words of the man rang inside her head. _'You, and your_ _friends, will die!' _She didn't know what to think. Was he really going to hunt them down? She was deep enough in her thoughts that she didn't notice Yang put her hand on her shoulder.

"Pilot says we'll land at Beacon in a few minutes, sis." Yang's calm, sisterly voice allowed Ruby to relax.

"Good, we should probably wake up those two." She pointed at the sleeping forms of Weiss and Blake on the couch.

"Ah, let's give them a minute or two." Things became quiet again until Yang noticed Ruby's blank stare. She always looked like that when she was in deep thought. "What's on your mind?"

Ruby snapped out of her trance and looked at Yang "I'm just thinking about what he said. You don't think he'll really hunt us down, do you?"

Ruby may have been the self-proclaimed _fearless leader of Team RWBY,_ but she was still just a 15-year old girl. Yang could easily understand her worry, especially since _he_ said it. "Don't worry. I'm sure that he was just saying that out of anger. I don't think he would be that stupid to fight us."

Ruby felt some relief at her sister's words. "Thanks Yang."

* * *

In the distance, a black figure stood on top of a mountain, watching the airship fly towards its destination. His red eyes simply stared through his metal mask at the flying structure. "Oh, yes" he said to himself before looking down at one of sickles, "I will have my revenge."

* * *

**A/N: Well, there we go. Now that I got the first two chapters out of the way, I can finally relax a little bit. I will update this story as frequently as I can. You can probably expect a chapter each weekend. For now I need to relax. Thank you for reading the first part of the story and expect more in the future.**


	3. Mission Report

**A/N: 500 views. Wow, I did not see that coming. It's the fact that people are reading this story that motivates me to write it. Anyways, thank you for checking it out and giving it a chance. On the topic of updates, I'm thinking about updating every Wednesday and Saturday rather than each weekend, but this all depends on school and work. For right now, expect Chapter 4 on Wednesday. If I update at this new rate, the story will probably finish within a few weeks at best. But, enough out of me, on with the next chapter.**

* * *

"Ruby," Yang said quietly as she gently shook her sister.

Ruby's eyes slowly opened as she stared groggily back at her sister. She sat up on the couch and yawned. "What time is it?"

"Um, 1:42." Yang replied.

Ruby groaned as she fell back down on the couch. "Great," she said with a hint of sarcasm, "Just great. When are we going to reach Beacon."

Yang shifted a little. "Uh, Ruby, we landed a few minutes ago."

Ruby, whose eyes had just closed, snapped open as she quickly sat up. "A few minutes ago?! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!"

The sudden outburst caused Weiss to jump up and fall on Blake's lap. Blake stood up at the sound of the yelling, failing to notice the heiress whose head made contact with her shin. Weiss rolled on the floor, clutching her chin in pain.

"Oh, Weiss, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." Blake apologized to the fallen girl as she slowly rose to her feet groaning.

Weiss, still holding her chin, nodded in understanding. Her attention was caught by the two bickering sisters.

Yang was busy justifying her reasons as Ruby stood up. "Hey, I tried to wake you up. Instead, you kicked me in the shin!"

Ruby was about to reply, but Blake's voice cut her off. "What's going on?"

Ruby looked at the two tired girls. "Nothing, we just landed a few minutes ago-"

Now it was Weiss's turn to interrupt. "A few minutes ago. Why didn't someone wake us up?"

"That's what I said!" Ruby sighed, "No matter, now that we're here, we should go give our report to Professor Ozpin."

The other girls nodded in agreement and proceeded to exit the airship. Ruby thanked the pilot for the lift stepping outside. A blast of cool night air hit her face, causing her shiver slightly. As the others exited the vessel, Ruby looked onward at the castle-like structure before her, staring in awe at the green glowing orbs in the largest tower. Her mood shifted when she remembered that the tower was her destination. It was going to be a long walk.

* * *

What only took minutes to accomplish felt like hours for Team RWBY. There was not much to talk about as they slowly made their way toward the headmaster's office. Many of the students who had just come back from their own night missions watched the girls walk through the enormous hallways. Ruby could feel the gazes of her fellow students follow her movements. It was no secret to many that Team RWBY had to guard the mysterious black crystal, so when a student caught them walking around, questions would flow through his or her mind. 'Is the crystal safe?', 'Did _he _show up?'. All of these were questions Ruby did not want to answer right now.

Finally getting past the on-looking students, the girls reached the top of the stairs and found themselves standing outside two doors that led into Professor Ozpin's office. Ruby yawned before knocking on one of the doors. It was bad enough that the crystal shattered, but the threats from the assassin only helped justify her mood. She just wanted to go to bed.

All of her thoughts were interrupted as she heard footsteps from the other side of the door. The noise stopped as the lock clicked and the door opened, revealing the aged form of the headmaster of Beacon. Professor Ozpin stood there for a few seconds, looking down at the tired figures standing before him.

"Back already?" His soothing voice made Ruby want to go to sleep. "Very well, please step inside."

The four girls walked inside, their eyes widening at the size of the area. It was no surprise to Ozpin that that the girls would remain fascinated with his office, despite the number of times they have seen it. The room was nearly twenty feet in height and thirty feet in diameter. A spiral staircase hugged the sides of the rounded walls, stretching up towards a large green ball hanging from the ceiling. At the top of the stairs was the observatory, only distinguishable from the outside due to the glowing spheres that made up the center.

Ozpin motioned the girls to take a seat on one of the nearby couches. The four sat down and looked at the professor as he positioned the chair at his desk to face them.

He sat down and began to speak. "So, girls, before we start this debriefing, we must once again go over the requirements regarding this. I know, judging by the way you look right now, that you want to finally rest, so I'll keep this brief."

The girls fixed themselves and sat up straight before he continued. "Like before, you may not divulge any information about this meeting to anyone else. You may not inform anyone of any information from the area you worked near or in. Also, you may not, under any circumstance, reveal any personal information discussed. Do we have an agreement?"

"Yes sir." The four replied at once.

"Good, so something you four will be happy about is that Professor Jonas took the time to give me his own version of the attack that occurred at the facility. Therefore, all you need to do is fill in the blanks." The girls gave a sigh of relief; the faster they could go to bed the better.

"Now, for starters, who was responsible for the attack?" The four put their heads down in sadness. Ozpin was no fool; he could see the hints of worry in their expressions. The reasons for which would be revealed in a few minutes.

The silence lasted a little longer, until Ruby finally answered the question. "Him…it was him." The other three tilted their heads towards Ruby's. They could hear the worry in her low response.

"Ruby, my dear, speak up please. Could you repeat that?" He put a hand to his chin as he leaned over slightly. He had an idea about who it was from the report; he just had to make sure.

"Black Metal." Ruby's reply was still low, but Ozpin could still understand the two words that came out of her mouth. Those two wretched words.

Black Metal, the nickname of the most dangerous assassin in all of Vale. The same one who murdered over two hundred people within six months. His name struck fear into the hearts of the citizens. Ozpin remembered when the assassin got his nickname due to his metal mask and black cloak that kept him hidden in the darkness. No one had any idea who wore the mask; rather, they wanted to avoid seeing it.

"Professor Ozpin?" Ozpin was snapped out of his thoughts by the voice of Weiss.

"Sorry" he responded "I was just thinking to myself. No matter, so what became of the assassin?"

"He got away." Blake answered.

Ozpin's eyes widened and his voice increased in surprise. "With the crystal?"

Ruby closed her eyes and fiercely shook her eyes, grabbing her black skirt in frustration.

"Miss Rose, is there something troubling you?" Ruby looked up at Professor Ozpin, who appeared concerned for her.

Ruby composed herself and answered. "Well, it's about the crystal." Ozpin lifted his head up in interest as Ruby continued, "When we were chasing Black Metal, I knocked him back, and the crystal fell out of his cloak and-", Ruby was about to finish her sentence, but something stopped her.

Something was clearly bothering her. Ozpin rose from his chair and walked toward Ruby. Ozpin put a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder, catching the young girl off guard and earning him a sad look from the teen. "Ruby," he calmly asked, "what happened to the crystal?"

Ruby looked back down at the ground and replied, "It…shattered."

Ozpin smiled back at the girl and chuckled. Ruby looked up at the man before her. "Now Ruby, you don't have to worry about the crystal. Sure we cannot use it now, but your mission was to keep it from being stolen. So, while it may be destroyed, your mission was technically a success if Black Metal did not retrieve it."

Ruby's sad expression did not change, however. Once again she looked at the ground and spoke. "Professor, I'm not worried about the crystal. I'm worried about my team."

Ozpin raised a confused eyebrow as the girl continued, "When the crystal broke, he yelled at us. He threatened us. He swore that he would…kill us. I don't want to see my friends get hurt!"

Ruby now had tears in her eyes. Her teammates looked at her with their own sad expressions. She was a fifteen year old girl, being threatened by one of the most dangerous men in the world, all because a rock shattered.

Ozpin could see that the four had a rough day; it was about time to end this meeting. "Ruby, I would not worry too much about his words. Just know that if you have any problems you wish to address, feel free to stop by my office, okay."

The sad girl looked up at Ozpin once more. "O-Okay."

"Good, now then, I can see that you all had a busy night. As such, you will get tomorrow off. I will notify your teachers in the morning. For now, you girls return to your dorm and get a good rest. Meeting adjourned."

The girls got up and bowed before exiting the office. Ozpin escorted the girls to the door and watched as Yang put an arm around her sister. Ozpin closed the door and returned to his desk, searching for paper and a pen. He wrote down a reminder to himself to notify Team RWBY's teachers of their abscense. Under that, however, he wrote down a much shorter note before getting out of his chair and returning to his own room to sleep. As he walked away, he turned back once more to look at the last note. _Increase security_.

He frowned and proceeded to his room. Things were about to get interesting.


	4. Dreams and Illusions

**Almost 1000 views and the story isn't even closed to finished yet. Hopefully, we can hit 1000 at least after Chapter 5 comes out. Once again, thank you for reading the story so far. Now, I am actually forming together other projects that might start about halfway through the story, but for now, I'm solely focused on this. In the gap between this chapter and Chapter 5, I am hoping to get my profile page updated so that I can post schedules and even teasers of upcoming chapters or stories. **

**Don't be afraid to post reviews. I do look at them, and I would like to see how people think of the story or how I could make it better. Now then, on with the chapter.**

* * *

A sudden chill crept down Ruby's spine. She shivered at the cold shock, looking up to see a gray sky, with faint rays of sunlight dancing across the dark clouded space above. The atmosphere surrounding her was grim, with dead, bare trees stretching for miles across a blanket of crushed black leaves and wilted grass. Ruby did not know why, but she started walking, the ground crunching beneath her with every step. She walked along, baffled by the sight before her. _How can this place look like this?_

Her thought was interrupted when she heard shuffling behind a wall of bush remains. The shuffling continued, peaking her curiosity and prompting her to slowly walk toward the source. She was only a few steps away before the bundle of dead branches burst. Ruby dived to the side, just barely missing the set of claws that was only mere inches from her face. She landed on the ground, causing her to crush the pile of leaves, that broke her fall, into heaps of dust.

As she got to her feet, she could hear the growl coming from the creature that attacked her. Its red eyes stared her down through the patterned bone mask that covered the top half of its head. Its jet black fur helped it blend in with its dark surroundings, while its sharp teeth became visible when it growled at her. Ruby glanced at her surroundings allowing her to assume that this was the only Beowolf present.

"Only one of you?" Ruby taunted, "This is almost too easy." She reached for her back, ready to pull out Crescent Rose and cut the Beowolf down. The grin that plastered her face, however, immediately turned into a frown of worry. She did not feel her weapon; it was not there. Ruby looked down at her side, but she did not see the weapon protrude from her belt. Ruby slowly looked back up at her opponent that had been standing there. The second she made eye contact, the agitated creature of Grimm lunged at her. Ruby jumped back and fled. All she could do was run and pray that the Beowolf would not catch her.

Her prayers were answered when she failed to notice the downward slope in the forest. She was unable to catch her footing, instead falling, again, onto the ground and tumbling down the incline next to a tree. She had no time to recover, as the Beowolf's roar got closer. Regaining her composure, she threw herself behind the tree she rolled next to, her heart pounding against her ribs, and her deep breaths appearing in front of her in the essence of white fog.

The Beowolf halted at the top of the slope, its eyes scanning the area for any sign of its next meal. All it could see was the dead trees and bushes; there was no sign of the red cloaked girl. It growled under its breath and sprinted away.

Ruby peaked out from behind the tree and sighed in relief as the crunching noise slowly disappeared. This was replaced by a new, sharp sound that echoed throughout the forest behind her. A feeling in her gut was telling her that there was something wrong. She inhaled deeply and proceeded on towards the sound; after all, a huntress's gut was always right.

She proceeded farther along into the forest, eventually stopping at the drops of red that stained the ground near her. The noise was louder now, almost like it was right next to her. Her head snapped to the right, but the sight before her made her wish that she did not look. There, lying on the ground, surrounded in a pool of blood, were Weiss and Blake. Ruby eyes widened in horror. Their bodies were stained in crimson, and their eyes were tightly shut, almost like they were in pain.

The noise snapped Ruby out of her trance. Looking up to the source, she let out a cry of shock when she saw Yang drop to the ground like a ragdoll, a new red lake already forming beneath her. Ruby saw a new figure take the place of her sister. Alerted by the young girl's cry, it looked up and stared straight into her silver eyes. Ruby froze on the spot, her entire body felt numb, as she stared back into a pair of red eyes, hidden only beneath a shining mask that caught the reflection of Yang's body.

Suddenly, the figure began slowly moving towards her, preparing to let Ruby join her friends. Ruby took a step back in fear, but tripped and fell on the cold surface. Her body would not let her move; she tried to push herself up, but her arms would not work. A shadow fell over her, and all she could do was look back at the towering masked figure above her.

"No, please!" Ruby pleaded with the figure. The eyes grimaced at their target, and a large sickle was lifted in the air. Ruby's eyes focused on the blood-stained blade above her, the tears in her eyes now freely falling. This was the end of her. The crescent blade came down, and she all she could do was scream.

* * *

Ruby screamed and sat up straight in her bed, panting. Sweat was pouring down her forehead, and her cheeks were stained with tears. Ruby took deep breaths to control her breathing and control her heart, which felt like it was about to explode. Once she relaxed herself, she wiped the tears from her eyes and met a familiar, more subtle sight. She was no longer in the dead forest; she was back in her dorm at Beacon, and right now it seemed that she was the only one in there, judging by the lack of noise or reactions to her screams.

Ruby collapsed on her bed and sighed. _Two weeks, the same dream for two weeks _she thought to herself. It has indeed been two weeks since her last encounter with the assassin, Black Metal, and it has been two weeks of having the same nightmare.

The sheet she was laying on was soaked in her sweat. Ruby could only groan in frustration; now she had to wash the sheets, again. Pulling back the curtain that floated over her hovering bed, she jumped down and proceeded to take a morning shower and change into her normal attire. Once she finished changing, she moved toward her bed and removed all of the sheets, throwing them in a messy pile in the middle of the floor, along with her sweat-covered night clothes.

Ruby grabbed the sheets and walked sluggishly to the laundry room just down the hall from their dorm. Opening the washer, she immediately threw the sheets in the machine and began the long process of waiting.

It did not take long before thoughts of her nightmare returned to her. _Why do I keep having the same dream? Is it trying to tell me something, or is it an illusion? Who exactly is he? _All of these questions flew through her mind. She may be younger compared to most Beacon students, but she still knew that focusing on something this much was far from good. Perhaps, she was just thinking about his words too much. Still, there has not been any recent activity in the past two weeks regarding him.

Once again, her thoughts were interrupted, this time by the buzzing of the drier that she had moved her sheets into without noticing. She looked at the clock on a nearby wall. _9:00._

It was still too early for her liking, especially since it was Saturday. She never liked waking up early, yet her body never let her sleep any longer. Ruby removed the load of sheets from the drier and went back to her room.

Much to her surprise, her teammates were still not in the room. She assumed that they went to breakfast, but they would have been back earlier. _Maybe they went into the city, _she thought. However, she shrugged off their absence and decided to kill time by reading a book from Blake's collection, something they were allowed to do only if they did not damage the book itself.

About an hour later, the door to the room opened, startling Ruby who was deep into the story. Ruby quickly closed the book and set it aside, while the forms of Yang, Weiss, and Blake filed in through the door.

Yang noticed her sister on the bed watching them and greeted her, "Hey, sis, glad to see your finally awake."

Ruby chucked lightly at the comment. "Where have you guys been?"

"Shopping", came a reply from Weiss who was busy setting down bags.

"For what, exactly?"

"Clothes for the end of the year dance." Weiss finished sorting the bags before staring back at the surprised red-haired girl.

Ruby's eyes widened when she heard the reply. She did not hear about any end of the year dance. "What end of the year dance?!"

The other three girls stared back at their leader. Blake and Yang chuckled at the question, Yang a little more so than Blake. Weiss put her hand to her forehead and sighed. Time for an explanation.

* * *

A car pulled up in front of a club in the city of Vale. Two men wearing coats climbed out of the vehicle, one moving towards the front door of the building, while the other opened the car door, allowing a short, burly man in a white coat exit. The two proceeded into the club, joined by the third after entering. The place may have been shady, but the man did not fear it. After all, he owned the place. He did not bother looking at the wandering eyes, or the figure in the corner that made his way toward him.

The three stepped into the white-coated man's office in the back ,the two immediately taking positions by the side of the door, while the man made himself comfortable in the chair at his desk. He was preparing to get his papers in check, until a knock was heard at the door.

_Of course, they always come knocking once I get here. _The man sighed, "Open the door." One of the guards nodded, allowing the head to gaze back at the papers. This was interrupted when he looked back up at the sound of struggling.

The man who opened the door was immediately hit with a fist, making him turn around. The person behind the door grabbed his head and brought it over his shoulder. A sickening crunch was heard, and the man fell to the floor no longer moving. The other guard pulled out a knife and lunged at the assailant, but his arm was caught. He could not react fast enough as wrist, along with the blade, was pushed into his stomach. As the other guard fell, the attacker shut the door and met the gaze of the owner. The owner's eyes widened when he recognized the metal mask worn by the other man.

"Well, hello there. I hear you're a man who likes to talk business." Black Metal walked calmly to the man, slamming his hands on the desk upon reaching it. The man found himself staring widely into his red eyes. "So, let's talk."

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**I apologize if the chapter wasn't very dialogue heavy, but don't worry, next chapter will have plenty of dialogue.**


	5. Seven Deadly Sins

**A/N: Well guys, here is Chapter 5. This chapter is personally one of my favorites because of the symbolism of it. How you may ask? I'll let you figure that out, but I will say that there is a reason behind the title of the chapter and the name of the main antagonist. Let's see if you can figure it out.**

**On a different topic, I would like to thank every single one of you who read the story so far. I know that I sound like a broken record, but you have no idea how much this means to me, especially since we reached 1000 views about 2 days ago. I never thought that I would reach that high of a number within the first few chapters of the story. Thank you for reading the story so far and expect more to come.**

**Also, if you are actually reading this message, a basic outline of my profile has been set up. It will be edited in the future though, so please check it out to find out information about stories, chapter titles and summaries, and release dates. One last thing, when we reach Chapter 10, I will reveal the title and a basic summary of my next project. That's all I have to say, so enjoy Chapter 5.**

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_This isn't going to end well. _The club owner never expected that the most dangerous assassin in all of Vale, no all of Vytal, would stand face to face with him. All of the rumors about how his skill is almost matched to Professor Ozpin's, or how his blood red eyes cut into a person's very soul. All of these rumors were present right now, compacted into the form of a man with a black cloak and iron mask. Black Metal's mask was right in front of him and as much as the owner wanted to avert his eyes, he merely found himself gazing once more into the murderer's deathly glare.

"I hear you're a man who likes to talk business." A voice echoed behind the mask of his attacker. "So, let's talk."

Despite the owner's fearfulness of the situation, he still had a reputation to uphold, and he would not have it ruined by a man wearing a mask, "What do you want?"

"I just told you that I wanted to talk", came the irritated reply.

"Yes, I know. I'm asking you what you want to talk about."

Black Metal narrowed his eyes through the mask. The owner was testing his patience, but no amount of confidence can hide the worry in the victim's eyes. If he was going to toy with Black Metal, then Black Metal was going to return the favor. Much to the owner's surprise, the man in front of him laughed, his eyes widening at the chuckling man. The laughter was becoming louder, having increased in volume when Black Metal noticed the man's hands shaking uncontrollably.

The owner was frightened more and more by the sound of his dark laugh. "What's so funny?"

Black Metal regained his composure and coughed, "Just your petty attempts at trying to hide your fear." A wave of fear and confusion washed across the man's expression. _How could he tell so quickly? _"Yes, I can see the fear in your eyes." Black Metal moved closer to the desk once more, "You're not used to being in a situation like this aren't you? You're only used to creating them." The owner leaned back in his chair, trying to put some distance between himself and the surprisingly wise assassin. _How does he know me this well? _

Black Metal continued his rant. "Believe me, I know all about how you run your little _criminal operation_, and I know what you will do next. You know why?" The man shook his head in reply. "Because, in a way, we are the same." _The same, how preposterous! I am nothing like him._ Black Metal looked down at the owner, well aware of his thoughts, "I see that you disagree with me. Very well allow me to explain." The owner sat up a little more, now intrigued with what he had to say. "Are you familiar with the seven deadly sins?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with us being the same?" The man's curiosity was now peaked.

"The seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, envy, lust, pride, sloth, and wrath. Each one of them has some correlation with the other. Every single person in this world is affected by at least one of these. While some are affected slightly, others fall more easily, even to a point where they become an embodiment of that sin. Those people are like you and me. For instance, you are an embodiment of greed, always looking to gain money with your organization." The owner was impressed with the logic so far. Never in his life has he thought of himself as that type of person.

"I, however, am an embodiment of wrath and hatred, all of those negative emotions that people feel, packed away into one soul. Wrath causes death, destruction, chaos, and much more. It's funny how people say that pride is the worst of the seven; those people haven't met me yet. The reason we are the same is not because we are part of a belief, but rather, we are the same because we have a reason for why we are part of it."

He was absolutely speechless at how blind he was. This man was much wiser, than he thought. All of this time, he believed that he was just a psychotic killer, with no true sense of the world, but he was horribly wrong. "Now then, I want you to consider those words, especially for this next question."

"What do you want me to do?" The man was at happy enough that he was not dead; the least he could do was get out of this situation faster by helping him. The assassin smiled behind his mask. _This will be easier than I thought._

* * *

Ruby's face was starting to turn red. This was an embarrassing moment for her because she is the team leader, who is supposed to know about almost every event or mission there is regarding herself or her team. In the end, she failed to realize that there would be an end of the year dance.

Weiss removed her hand from her forehead. She sighed, unable to comprehend how Ruby had not heard about the event. She sighed and proceeded to explain the situation, "The end of the year dance is a huge party that takes place in the ballroom about a month before the school year is over. It's sort of like a reward for all the training we do on a daily basis."

At least Ruby understood the basic premise behind the dance. "Okay… when is it then?"

"Next Saturday", came the response from Blake, who was now sitting on her bed with a book in hand.

Ruby's voice rose in shock. "Next Saturday! What am I supposed to now?! I still need clothes and all."

Yang walked over to her sister and put a comforting arm around her. "Don't worry sis, you're just overreacting. It's not like a prom or anything; it's just a party. You don't need to look Princess over there." Yang pointed at Weiss, earning an irritated huff from the young heiress, "Tell you what, you and I will go to the store tomorrow and get something. Just because you don't have to look fancy, doesn't mean that you can't look decent. You may even meet someone."

Ruby's face reddened again at the last sentence. She immediately pushed Yang away, "Yang, I'm only fifteen."

Yang laughed at her sister's expression. "Relax, sis, I know. You'll have a great time."

A growling noise interrupted the group, causing all eyes in the room to freely wander to the source: Ruby's stomach. Ruby rubbed the back of her head and smiled, "Guess I forgot to eat breakfast." Everyone laughed at their teammate, even Ruby. It did feel nice to start the day in a humorous way, especially after experiencing that frightening nightmare again.

* * *

_Oh no, not again! _Ruby found herself back in the dead forest. Chills ran throughout Ruby's body, as she walked along aimlessly, knowing how this would end. Much to her surprise, she ended up in a new section of the forest, one without trees, only carved stones on the withered ground. Ruby moved through the gravestones, looking at the names. Horror filled her expression as she read the names on the graves: _Jaune Arc, Pyrrah Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long. _All of her friends were in front of her, buried six feet below the earth.

In the corner of her eye, she noticed a hole in the ground. She slowly walked towards it, finding an empty pit that appeared to be new. She looked up at the gravestone above, curious to see which one of her friends this was for. Her heart dropped when she saw the name chiseled in the smooth stone: _Ruby Rose. _

A bright flash of light lit up the name on the grave, causing the girl to jump back. Her breath became ragged as she quickly turned around, desperately wanting to leave this wretched place. When she turned around, she found her path blocked by a large black cloak. Looking up at the barrier, she found herself staring into blood red eyes. Her own eyes widened in shock, as a flash of lightning lit up the dark sky, revealing the metal mask that she feared greatly. Ruby let out a cry before everything went black.

* * *

Ruby sat up in the darkened room. Her breaths came out sharp as her heart beat against her ribs. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and moved the curtain over her bed. Surprisingly, no one woke up from her reactions.

Ruby fell back onto her pillow and sighed. Her day had been going so well, no classes, hanging out with her friends, sparing against Team JNPR with her own team. It was all going so well. She closed her eyes once more and fell back into a more peaceful dream.

On the other side of the room, Yang laid awake, listening to her sister shuffle in her bed before falling asleep. Yang looked over at her sister, noticing the beads of sweat on her forehead and the wet spots on her pillow. Yang frowned at her sister's state. She had been having these nightmares for some time now. It was time that she confronted Ruby about it. _Ruby…what's happening to you? _Yang turned back around and drifted into slumber.

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**If there are errors in this chapter, it's because I didn't have enough time to edit it. This message will disappear once I get to improving it.**


	6. Sisterly Concern

**A/N: I apologize for this chapter being long overdue but allow me to explain why. First off, I have exams this week and because of this, I had tests crammed down my throat, so I had no time to actually write a chapter. The second reason is because I sprained my wrist last week, so when I did try to type, it hurt badly.**

**Now then, as an apology to the lack of updating, I will post another chapter either today or tomorrow. After that, I won't post another chapter until Friday since I'm off that day. I'm going to try to post Chapters 8, 9, and 10 for you guys this weekend before I announce the next RWBY story I'm working on. I will be sure to edit my profile with the respective chapter dates sometime today. **

**Anyways, I apologize for the delay. Also, if anyone has, or is working on, fan art of this story for whatever reason, please PM me on my fan fiction profile about it. I would like to use one for the cover of the story since I'm a bad artist. Thank you for the support and enjoy Chapter 6.**

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Light shined through the opened window of the dorm, panning across the walls before stopping at the face of a red haired girl. Ruby's eyes slowly opened, darting across the room to take in the surroundings. She sat up in her bed and yawned, stretching the muscles in her arms to get her blood flowing once again. A sudden movement caught the corner of her eye, prompting her to look to her left. There she saw Yang dropping off her own bed. Yang noticed her sister staring at her. "Good morning, sis." She said in a rather cheerful tone.

"Morning, Yang," the girl replied in a tired voice, "I didn't never thought that you would wake up this early."

"I could say the same to you" she retorted. Ruby giggled at her sister. It was true that neither of them could get up early, but Yang was usually the sleeping bear of the family, always sleeping in and scary to wake up. Since her nightmares have caused her sleep deprivation, Ruby has been unable to get up before Yang.

"That doesn't answer my question, Yang." Ruby replied while jumping off her own bed. Ruby moved to a nearby drawer and opened it, removing her usual attire that resided within. Yang opened her own drawer and pulled out her normal attire as well before answering her sister, "Well, if you must know, I got up early to take you shopping."

Ruby froze on the spot. She had completely forgotten that they were going to get clothes for the dance. _Man, I'm really starting to lose it. _

Ruby's thought was interrupted when a hand waved in front of her, matched with her Yang's voice calling out to her, "Hello, earth to Ruby?"

Ruby blinked and shook her head, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "Sorry", she replied shyly, "I forgot that we were going out today." Yang giggled and rubbed her sister's hair playfully. "Don't worry little sis. Let's get changed and head out before the students get anything good." In a few minutes, both girls were dressed and ready to go. Yang let Ruby walked out first, watching her sister walk cheerfully down the hallway, her expression immediately turning into a look of sadness. _What are you hiding?_

* * *

After nearly an hour of shopping, Ruby and Yang exhaustively sat down at a table outside of a food court. Ruby placed the bag that held her new belongings on the table in front of her, pulling out each item that was purchased and staring at it in awe: a black and red shirt with sparkles coating the entire exterior, navy blue jeans, a bracelet and necklace covered in bright red rubies, and a beautiful rose that her sister bought for her.

Ruby returned the items to the bag and hugged her sister in thanks, "Thank you for taking me out shopping today Yang," Ruby let go of her sister and continued, "but why did you let me buy so much expensive material for a casual dance."

Yang shrugged in reply, "Ah, no reason in particular. I just wanted to make my little sis happy. Besides, your birthday is coming up soon anyway, so I might as well get your presents early." Ruby smiled to hide the doubt eating away at the back of her mind, quickly dropping it once Yang lowered her head; there was something about Yang's answer that she seemed unsure of.

For a moment, there was silence, but Ruby could see the pain in Yang's eyes, and that was something Ruby could not bear to see. It took her a few seconds to realize that Yang probably brought her there for another reason. "Yang," the blond looked back up at the call of her name, "are you okay. You look troubled."

Yang sighed, as she met the gaze of her sister's silver eyes. "Yes, Ruby, there is something bothering me."

Ruby inched forward to listen to her sister, "What is it Yang? You can tell me."

Yang glanced at the red-haired girl, taking in a deep breath that forced her entire body to straighten, "Well, don't take this the wrong way, but the problem is, well…you." Ruby's eyes widened and a black cloud of sadness began to emerge from the girl's irises. Yang's eyes widened as well, immediately causing the blond girl to swing her arms as she attempted to explain, "W-wait, d-don't freak out! I didn't mean it like that!"

The depression in the young girl's eyes faded. Ruby raised an eyebrow, awaiting the explanation her sister was trying to give, "Let me re-phrase that. The problem is what is happening to you." Ruby's heart leaped in her chest; _she couldn't know about my nightmares already…could she?_

"Ruby, I know that something is bothering you; because of that, it bothers me. I hear you screaming in the middle of the night. I hear you wake up, sweating and panting." Ruby felt like shattering into a million pieces. It was not due to the keen observations of her sister, but rather the way her sister is becoming depressed because of her own problems, that made her sister unknowingly suffer with her.

Yang put a hand on Ruby's shoulder and spoke in a soothing voice, "I know you've probably guessed that this is the other reason I brought you here, but I want to help you. You have been out of place since for a couple of weeks now", Yang leaned in closer to Ruby with pleading eyes, "Please, tell me what's wrong."

Ruby's soul was divided; part of it wanted to tell Yang about her nightmares, but another half wanted to hide it and spare her the worry. Rather than pick one side, she put the two together, "I… I've been having nightmares of you guy. I keep seeing you all suffer, and it scares me."

Yang smiled at her sister assuring, "Ruby, you don't have to worry about us that much. We're not going anywhere, trust me."

The young girl's melancholy face turned bright, "Thank you, Yang. You're an awesome sister." Ruby stood up and retrieved the bag of accessories. "Let's head back and relax for a little while."

Yang followed suit and made a gesture with her arms, "After you, little sis." Ruby began to walking home, Yang immediately following behind. Ruby's shining face darkened, knowing well that Yang does not know everything, but this would have to be saved for a new day. While Ruby continued ahead, Yang slowed her pace, frowning at the girl when she was far enough away. She was not telling her everything, but that would be saved for another time. As long as she was happy today, she would not bother her. Yang strode over to her sister, and the two made their way back to Beacon.

* * *

**I am sorry if this chapter felt short; I just needed to get a little Ruby x Yang moment in for the time being. Also, I will apologize in advance for any errors in this chapter as well as Chapters 5 and 7. I will not edit any chapters until exam week is finished, which for me is technically Thursday, but I still need at least a day to relax after everything that has happened to me since Chapter 5. **

**Once again, sorry for the length; unfortunately, Chapter 7 might be shorter, but I don't know yet. Thanks for reading the story so far.**


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